Leadership Team and Governing Council appointments
Lynn Smith, Director of People
Lynn was appointed as Director of People in August 2023, bringing over 25 years of experience as a people professional. Lynn joins ESMS from National Museums Scotland where she was Director of People. Her previous roles include Director of People at Thorntons Law LLP and Strategic HR Partner at The Co-operative Group. Having held both executive and non-executive roles in private, public, and charitable organisations, she has a wealth of expertise in developing and delivering organisational and people strategies that drive positive impact. Throughout her career, Lynn has played a crucial role in enhancing employee voice and wellbeing, as well as driving equality, diversity and inclusion initiatives.
Awards
We were delighted to be the first independent school in Scotland to be named as a Microsoft Global Showcase School this year. Elsewhere at ESMS, The Mary Erskine School was one of the UK’s top 20 all-girls schools for cricket in the 2023 Cricketer Schools Guide and Stewart’s Melville College was awarded the Carnegie Centre of Excellence for Mental Health in Schools Silver School Mental Health Award. ESMS has also achieved our Cycling Friendly School Award and most recently we have been selected a finalist for the Independent School of the Year for Performance Art Award.
Academic Results
We are proud to report that our students had another excellent year of SQA exam results at National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher levels.
At MES our Higher level students achieved a pass rate of 95.5% with an A/B rate of 87.4%. At SMC students achieved a 95.1% pass rate with an A/B rate of 86.5%
As a result of their hard work, 97% of our students have got their firm choice of university, taking them to a range of destinations, including Oxford, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Durham, Richmond Virginia, Kings College London and the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.
Our reputation for academic excellence places us among the top ten Sunday Times Independent Schools in Scotland.
Sport
Our students achieved successes across a wide range of sports this year, including Boys Scottish Cup U16 Rugby winners and Inspiresport National 1 Whole School Conference Rugby winners, Girls Senior Schools Scottish Cup Hockey finalists and winner of the S1 Scottish Schools Basketball Cup. MES students also won silver and gold medals at the Bath Cup and SMC won Gold in the U15 4 x 100m Scottish Schools Relay Championships.
Performing Arts
It was a wonderful year for Performing Arts, with so many opportunities for creative expression. Dramatic productions included “Our Town, “Dr Korczak’s Example”, “Matilda”, “Shrek the Musical”, “Sound of Music”, “Bumblesnouts Save The World”, “Pirates of the Curry Bean” and our Nativity. The performance of “Dr Korczak’s Example” was particularly special because it was written by a former pupil. The students also pulled off gravity-defying dance performances in the Junior and Senior School Kaleidoscope shows, and delighted audiences with a Jazz and Blues Night and Choral and Orchestral concerts. Most recently we have been selected as a finalist for the Performing Arts award.
Community
This year the ESMS community raised over £51,386 towards a range of charities at home and abroad, including, Finlay’s’ Friends, Maggie’s, Young Carers, Held In Our Hearts, DEC Humanitarian Appeal, Shakti Women’s Aid, Social Bite, Tailor Ed Foundation and Friends of Lagganlia. Music inspired many of our community activities this year with ESMS Junior School performing at the Spifox Christmas Concert and later in the year taking to the stage for ‘Livingstone Presumed’, by Alexander McCall Smith, to promote The Scotland-Malawi Partnership, The Chesney Trust and The Soko Fund. Meanwhile our music teachers offered music lessons for Ukrainian children on Saturday mornings and hosted Nicola Benedetti Foundation workshops to support local primary schools and string players in the community.
Off the stage and onto the pitch, staff from MES partnered with Stewart’s Melville RFC to run a community sports programme for children with special needs. The events, hosted at the school, give children, who are often excluded from organised sports, the chance to have fun and appreciate the powerful impact of sport. Students from the school attended Scottish Disability Sports training, allowing them to organise and run the day. The Leadership Programme has also enabled students to volunteer at other events and locations, such as The Yard, where eight of the students ran Christmas parties for the children last year.
ESMS is the biggest provider of Duke of Edinburgh in the UK and this year 460 students took part. We were very proud of the 6630 hours of volunteering time the students invested as part of this initiative.
Outdoor Learning
It was a fantastic year for outdoor learning. The appointment of an Outdoor Learning Manager took the programme to extra heights this year. Particular highlights included mountain biking the Hebridean Way, completing the western half of the Great Glen Canoe Trail, Carbisdale (our eight day residential) and our P7s raising £14,926 for My Name’5 Doddie, by walking 26 miles of the West Highland Way.
